First we had the people going door to door. Then the theory came around about selling to the people within your “sphere of influence”. These marketing plans worked well enough but only while you worked. If you get sick, there goes your income.
Now we have the information age. Computers allow automation as well as extending your “sphere of influence” throughout the world. Word of mouth advertising is and always will be the most potent advertising, but now we can extend this to other nations and languages with web pages, chat programs, and email. If you write a web page in English, there are tools on the web like babblefish that anyone can use to translate them. With the internet you can market to the entire world from your chair by the TV.
Have you ever noticed how many people you talk to on facebook whom you have never met? How often do you get email from friends with header from their friends still attached? These are becoming more and more common place as the internet becomes inseparable in our daily lives. Every one of these people are prospective buyers. You can add your web page address to most social networking sites, or even write blogs or bulletins on your web page to entice more traffic. These social networking sites boost your efforts since many people already consider you a friend. This means you are half way through the trust issue and to the sale.
How can you take advantage of all of this? By positioning yourself in front of people. Adding a signature to your emails will allow even your jokes to become automated viral email marketing campaigns. Taking the time to optimize your web site will have the search engines sending you web traffic without you even logging into your computer. Auto-responders on your email can send out an email campaign that your visitors sign up for without you even seeing them. Tweet little tips an twitter. All of these things can be done without spending a dime.
If you have some money to spend, you can expand your options. Most web sites will allow you to place banner ads for a price. Look at the sites you visit on a daily basis. If you’re visiting them, then so are other people. There are link and banner exchanges which can be used to spread your advertising to hundreds of sites. Some are free, and others require payments. There is always Pay-Per-Click advertising like Google Adwords. Here you bid against other people and while you can get your add out, you can spend a LOT of money if you aren’t careful.
In the end, you need to find the marketing you do well with. While I do well with my articles, you may do better with banners. It comes down to what works. Always track your advertising, and make sure where you are getting your traffic from. If you follow these simple ideas, you will see a significant increase of your traffic and sales.
Ray Owen has been a network engineer for fifteen years, and now owns Freenetbuz.com. You can also follow his blog on home business automation here.
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